URSELMANN INTERIOR DESIGNS CIRCULAR DÜSSELDORF APARTMENT
Located within a 1939 residential building in Düsseldorf, Germany, this apartment renovation by local practice Urselmann Interior is engineered entirely for circular disassembly. The studio established take-back agreements with nine manufacturers: Pfleiderer, Granorte, Shards, Søuld, ClayTec, STRAMEN.TEC, Tarkett, Bosch, and Vitra, ensuring that interior building products can be reclaimed and reprocessed into new materials at the end of their lifecycle. All joinery relies on mechanical dry joints, screws, and reversible adhesives to facilitate sorting by material category, while major kitchen appliances are leased rather than purchased. The material palette prioritizes biogenic, carbon-sequestering matter such as straw, cork, wood, and seagrass, allowing the project to achieve a net-negative carbon balance of minus 577 kg CO₂e under circular assessment standards (DIN SPEC 91606).
STEPPED TIMBER PLATFORMS DOUBLE FUNCTIONAL USABLE SPACE
To optimize the apartment’s compact footprint, Urselmann Interior studio removes two internal walls and a door to combine the entryway, kitchen, dining, and living zones into a continuous open-plan volume. Multi-tiered spatial interventions and operable textiles subdivide programmatic functions without rigid permanent partitions. In the living area, a heavy curved perimeter curtain deploys around a sleeper sofa to form a private guest room. The bedroom incorporates a tiered timber platform integrating a desk, a meditation space, and an elevated bed, all concealed behind a full-height curtain during the day. The color strategy draws inspiration from the architecture of Luis Barragán, featuring a vibrant Mexican Pink entrance corridor that transitions into green-blue living quarters detailed with glossy turquoise tiles and integrated houseplant arrangements.
wall tiles pressed from construction rubble and a cork floor give the dining area its color
every component within the interior is assembled for non-destructive deconstruction and material reuse
project info:
name: New Interior Apartment
designer: urselmann interior | @urselmann_interior
location: Düsseldorf, Germany
photographer: Magdalena Gruber | @magdalenarusalkagruber
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edited by: Christina Vergopoulou | designboom
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